Process of producing thick butt shingles and such shingles



April 1940- B. swzlznuzn 2,198,095

PROCESS OF PRODUCING THICK BUTT SHINGLES AND SUCH SHINGLES Filed 001;. 11, 1935.

Patented Apr. 23, 1940 PATENTI OFFICE PROCESS OF PRODUCING THICK BUTT SHINGLES AND SUCH SHINGLES Benjamin Sweedler, Larchmont, N. Y.,

assignor,

by mesne assignments, to The Patent and Licensing Corporation, Doration of Massachus New York, N. Y., a coretts Application October 11, 1935, Serial No. 44,495

1 Claim. This invention relates to shingle elements and more particularly to the manufacture of thick butt strip shingles having tabs disposed along one longitudinal edge thereof, the edges of the shingles being sealed by suitable waterproofing material. The term shingle is used herein in a broad sense and is intended to include elements employed for roofing, siding and other analogous construction purposes.

Sealed edge thick butt shingle elements have heretofore been made by hand-dipping a granular surfaced coated felt base into a bath of molten asphalt or other bituminous material, the elements allowed to drain and then surfaced with granular material. Such hand-dipping operations are expensive, since they involve timeconsuming hand labor and waste of asphalt.

In Patents Nos.-l,842,448 of January 26, 1932,

and 1,927,824 of September 26, 1933, there is dis- -'.closed a continuous process of making thick butt shin'gles'with sealed edges. The invention herein is in the nature of an improvement on the continuous process disclosed in these patents. It is an object of this invention to provide a process of making sealed edge thick butt shingles which process can be carried out in existing roofing machines with little modification thereof,-and which process involves no manual ma nipulative step such as the dipping treatment U width of the starting roofing web and the number of shingles it is desired to cut therefrom. For vexample, if a web of a width suflicient to produce four shingle elements cut longitudinally ironthe width thereof is employed, two stripes eaclf'of a'width sufllcient to coat the tab portions of two elements may be applied to the web.

If a web of a width suflicient to produce an odd number of shingles cut longitudinally from the width thereof is employed, one of the stripes may be of a width such as to cover the tab portions of only one element and the other stripes maybe of a width to coat the tabportions-of two elements cut tab-to-tab. After the coating stripes are applied they may be surfaced with mineral grit such as crushed stone, talc, mica or other of the surfacing materials employed in the roofing art. If desired, before or after the application of stripes, coating material may be applied to one or both sides of the web and surfaced with mineral grit.

The thus coated and surfaced web may then be cut longitudinally substantially midway along the aforementioned stripes of coating material each of a width suflicient to coat the tab portions of two elements to produce strips each having a relatively thick and thin portion and having tab-defining cutouts formed in the thick portion. Coating material such as asphalt or other bituminous material may then be applied to each strip covering ither the side containing the aforementioned stripe or the opposite side and extending over the entire area ofsaid side and also over the cut edges, sealing the same. Before the application of the last mentioned coating material, the cut strips may be separated to expose the cut edges, so that coating material may be readily applied thereto. The coating ma-. terial thus applied may be surfaced with granular material and the strips cut transversely into shingle elements.

By applying coating material to each cut strip after the tab-thickening stripes have been applied to the web and the'web cut into strips each having tabs separated by tab-defining cutouts along one longitudinal edge thereof, it is possible in one and the same operation to apply coating material to one side, preferably the exposed side, and to all cut edges, including both longitudinal edges thereby effectively protecting the elements against weather influences.

In the accompanying drawing Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic side elevation, partially in section, of an arrangement of apparatus which may be employed for carrying out the process of this invention; Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic plan view of the web as it travels through the apparatus of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic perspective view showing the cut web as it leaves the longitudinal cutters and indicating the path of movement of the cut strips resulting in the separation thereof; Fig. 4 is a vertical section partly in elevation of apparatus which may be employed for the application of the butt thickening coating to the strips; Fig. 5 is a plan view of the apparatus of Fig. 4; Fig. 6 is a vertical section taken through one of the tabs of a thick butt shingle resulting from the practice of the process diagrammatically illustrated in Fig. 1; Fig. 7 is a vertical section taken through one of the tabs of a modified form of thick butt shingle which may result from the practice of the process of this invention, and Fig. 8 is a vertical section taken through one of the tabs of still another modified form of shingle embodying this invention,

Referring to the drawing, a web A of roofing material such as felt of the desired width is led through the saturating tank 5, where it may be impregnated with a suitable waterproofing compound such as asphalt or tar. The saturated web then passes between the squeeze rolls 6 which remove excess saturant or, if desired, between rolls which do not remove saturant instead of through the squeeze rolls 6, to and through drying rack 1, which allows the saturated web to cool somewhat, The web is then fed through the coating rolls 8 and 9 by means of which a relatively thin coat of weatherproofing compound such as tar or-asphalt (usually of a higher melting point than that, of the saturant) is applied to both faces of the impregnated sheet. Coating material may be applied to the sheet just before it passes between rolls 8 and 9 by means of a spout Hi, the roll 8 functioning to uniformly distribute the coating material over the face of the web. While the coating material on the web is still soft and tacky, the web passes under the hoppers II and I2 and about reversing rolls l3 and I4.

The hoppers II and I2 may be of usual design, hopper I l containing crushed slate or other wearresisting granular material of any suitable color or mixture of colors, which may be showered upon the face of the coated web by means of a distributor roll I to surface the web. Hopper |2 may contain talc, mica or other antistick material in finely divided form. Distributor roll l2 in hopper l2 showers the antistick material therein onto the rear surface of the web as it passes about roll l3, thus rendering the rear surface of the web non-cementitious.

The thus coated and surfaced web now passes over guide-roll I5, cooling and calendering rolls I8 and I1, guide-roll l8 and over the plate l9" of coating appliance l9. Coating appliance IS in the embodiment of the invention shown in Figs. 1, 4 and 5 incolves two containers 2| for coating material such as asphalt or other waterproofing material, each in communication with a coating roll 22 having selected portions 23 thereof, adapted to receive coating material from container 2| and apply the same in stripes to the surfaced web while the latter is maintained in contact with the portions 23 of roll 22 by plate I9. The amount of coating material delivered by portions 23 may be controlled by doctor blade 24 so that any desired thickness of coating layer is applied to the surfaced web. In the embodiment of the invention shown in the drawing, two coating strips 25 and 26 are formed on the surfaced web, of a width sufficient to produce four shingles cut lengthwise therefrom, each stripe being of a width suflicient to cover the-tab portions of two elements cut tab-to-tab as indicated in the diagrammatic plan of Fig. 2,

but it will be understood that if a wider or nar-' rower web is employed more or less stripes respectively would be applied.

The thus coated web then passes under the hopper 21 containing mineral grit such as mica, crushed slate, etc., which is showered from the hopper onto the stripes of coating material by means of a distributing roll 21. The hopper 21 *of the tab-defining cutouts.

material may be provided with partitions forming compartments of a width corresponding to that of the stripes 25, 26. Mineral grit in these compartments is supplied only to the stripes 25, 26 and not to the remainder of the web. In the passage of the web about the reversing roll 28 the mineral grit is partially imbedded in the stripes of coating material and caused to adhere thereto.

From reversing roll 28 the web passes over guide rolls 29 and 30, between rolls 3| and 32 to .the cutting cylinders 33. The cutting cylinde'rs 33 slit the web longitudinally midway along the coating stripes 25 and 26, as indicated by the reference numerals 34 and 35 and also longitudinally along line 35 which occurs on the longitudinal median line of the web. Tab-defining cutouts 31 are formed by the cutting cylinders 33 along one longitudinal edge of each of the strips 38, 39, 4|] and 4| formed by the lontudinal severance of the web by means of' the longitudinal cuts 34, 35 and 36. These tab-defining cutouts, it will be noted, occur in the coatin stripes 25 and 26.

The cut web now passes onto conveyor bands 42 and 43. Strips 38 and 40 are carried by bands 42 in a downward direction while strips 39 and 4| are carried by bands 43 in an upward direc- -tion, as appears clearly from Fig. 3. Strips 38 and 40 are thus moved in the same longitudinal direction as the direction of movement of the portions of the web from which they are cut but in a different horizontal plane from that in which strips 39 and 4| are moved. Strips 39-and 4| also travel in the same longitudinal direction as the direction of movement of the portions of web A from which they are cut and pass over idler roll 44 while strips 38 and 40 pass over idler roll 45. Thus the strips are separated without distortion to give ready access to the cut edges, permitting effective sealing of the cut edges.

The strips are now ready to have applied thereto the coating of weather-resisting material such as asphalt, tar or other bituminous material cOV- ering the entire face thereof, and which coating is preferably extended to seal the cut edges including both longitudinal edges and the edges This coating material may be applied by means of any suitable coating mechanism, there being one such coating mechanism for each strip. The coating mechanism may comprise a container 46 which supplies the coating material to the coating roll 41 and which may have a doctor blade such as that shown in Fig. 4 for controlling the amount of coating material delivered by the coating roll 41. This coating roll is designed to supply a slight excess of coating material to the strip, the excess of coating material flowing over the longitudinal edges onto the cut edges. Instead of the coating apparatus of Fig. 4, coating material may be sprayed onto the face and the edges of each strip.

While the last mentioned coating material is still soft and plastic, the strips pass under crushed slate hoppers 48, one for each strip. These hoppers are equipped with distributor rolls 48' for showering crushed slate or other wear-resisting 1{pon the coating layer covering the strip. The strips then pass over the reversing rolls 49 and 50 which press the crushed slate or other mineral grit into the plastic coating. From reversing rolls 50 the strips are conducted over the cooling rolls 5| between the feed rolls 52 over the timing rolls 53 and between the feed rolls 54. Projections upon the periphery of timing rolls 53 engage in the notches between the tabs upon the strips. Transverse cutters 55 are so synchronized with the timing rolls 53 that the strips are out along a line of severance between the tabs to form a finished thick butt shingle strip or element, as indicated in Fig. 2. From the transverse cutting mechanism 55 the strips may be fed through a chute or slide 55' to a suitable packing mechanism (not shown).

Fig. 6 discloses the elementresulting from the process hereinabove described. From this figure it will be noted that the element involves a felted fibrous foundation 56 which may be and preferably is the usual roofing felt. This felt, as

hereinabove described, is saturated with bituminous material and then both sides are completely coated with bituminous material forming coating layers 5! and 58. Mica, talc, or other antistick material, layer 59, is partially imbedded in the coating layer 51 and mineral grit layer 60. such as crushed slate, is-partially imbedded in the coatinglayer 58. A further coating BI is supplied to the back of the element covering only that portion of the back corresponding approximatelyto the area of the element intended to be exposed. In the case of a shingle intended to be laid with the thick butt portions in lapping relation, the coating on the back may cover that portion of the area intended to be exposed plus the lap between the thick butt portions of contiguous courses. In the case of a siding element layer 6| may cover an area somewhat less than the area intended to be exposed to the weather. Mineral grit layer 62 is partially imbedded in the coating layer 6|. A further coat ing layer 63 extends over the surfacing layer and covers the entire face of the element and is extended to seal both longitudinal edges 64 and 65 as well as all edges of. the cutouts. Mineral grit layer 56 is partially imbedded in the coating layer 63. m

The element of Fig. 7 diifers from that of Fig. 6 chiefly in the omission of the coating layer 51 and the grit layer 53. This element, as will be understood, can readily be made by passing a roofing web through the roofing instrumentalities hereinabove described, omitting coating roll 9 which applies the coating material to the back of the web and also the surfacing hopper 12 from which surfacing material is applied to the coating layer produced by coating roll 9.

The thick butt shingle of Fig. 8 differs from that of Fig. 6 chiefly in that it has coating layer 5| and surfacing layer 62 on the "face instead of on the back and has the coating layer I53 extending ,over the surfacing layer 62 as well as the remainder of the face of the element. The shingle of Fig. 8 may be made employing the roofing instrumentalities of Fig. 1 modified so that instead of applying a coating layer directly to the saturated web extending over the entire face thereof, the coating stripes 25 and 26 are applied directly to the face of the saturated felt web, while the back of the web is coated throughout the entire extent thereof. In other words, the apparatus of Fig. 1 is modified so that instead of the coating roll 8, the coating delivery spout HI and surfacing hopper ll, coating apparatus l9 and surfacing hopper 26 are employed. Hence, when thesaturated web passes through the first coating step, the back thereof will be completely covered and stripes of coating material corremndlnst 5 a d 2' be p ied to the ra of w it us coa ed w b asses through the surfacing equipment the coating material is surfaced with mineral grit and the surfaced web is then passed through 'the cutting cylinders 33 and the other roofing instrumentalities following the cutters 33 shown on Fig. 1.

By the term mineral grit as used in the claims herein, it is intended to include surfacing materials such as mica, talc, soapstone, crushed rock, slate and other granules employed to cover the back or face of roofing.

It will be noted that the thick butt shingles of this invention may be made in a continuous operation employing existing roofing equipment and requires substantially no manual labor in the carrying out of any of the steps thereof. Moreover, it will be'noted that the process of this invention involves the manipulation, first, of a wide web through coating and surfacing appliances, then of narrower websproduced by the cutting of the wide web into strips, which wide and narrow webs are inherently of such character that they require little or no support. That is to say, the final step in applicants process is the transverse cutting of the strips into shingles; prior to this step the base from which the elements are produced is in web form so that the inherent strength thereof may be utilized to effect itsconveyance through the roofing instrumentalities, and manual manipulation or use of conveyors for handling short strips is not necessary.

-Although the process has been described as being applicable to the production of thick butt shingles continuously from the raw felt, it is obvious that the process may be employed to make thick butt shingles from felt which has previously been saturated or from felt which has been saturated, coated and surfaced.

It is to be understood thatthis invention is not restricted to the present disclosure otherwise than as defined by the appended claims. For example, instead of having the tab-defining cutouts extend to a point short of the edges of the coating stripes 25, 26 as shown in Fig. 2, these cutouts may extend beyond the edges of the coating stripes and serve as aligning guides to indicate the desired position of overlying elements. Siding elements are preferably made with the cutouts extending slightly above the tab thickening stripes of coating material.- A e I claim:

The process of making thick butt shingles each having tabs along one longitudinal .edge thereof separated by tab-defining cutouts, ,which comyprises coating the back of a saturated felt web elementscut from the web tab-toetaband insufl ficient to cover the entire area of said web, surfacing the said stripe of coating material with mineral grit, cutting the .web longitudinally into strips each having tab-defining cutouts along one longitudinal edge thereof, occurring in the said striped coated portion thereof, separating .the cut strips, applying heat liquefiedbituminous coating material to each strip overlying, said coating stripe and covering the entire face thereof and the cut edges, surfacing the last mentioned coating material with mineral grit and cutting each strip transversely into shingle elements. 

